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Pageant, Not Opera

By

Heidi Waleson

Updated Jan. 12, 2007 12:01 a.m. ET

NEW YORK -- Tan Dun's opera "The First Emperor," which had its world premiere at the Metropolitan Opera last month, opens with more than a hundred choristers arrayed on a tall bleacher-like set, wearing armor, slapping their sides in rhythm, and shouting warlike cries in Chinese. It ends with more than a hundred choristers arrayed on a tall, bleacher-like set, this time in sumptuous, jewel-colored robes and singing a poignantly melodic (with echoes of Puccini) lament, the key words of which are "Lord of Heaven, how long is this wall?" In Mr. Tan's hands, the sometimes uneasy coexistence of musical...